


Erevan's Day

by rlficacct



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: April Fools' Day, Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:42:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23450392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rlficacct/pseuds/rlficacct
Summary: Magnus has the perfect prank idea for Fantasy April Fools' Day.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 22





	Erevan's Day

**Author's Note:**

> Losely inspired by [magicalcxrl on tumblr's](https://magicalcxrl.tumblr.com) [comic](https://magicalcxrl.tumblr.com/post/190779558248). Check it out!

Somewhere around the fifteenth cycle, they'd started having difficulty keeping the years straight. It helped when they were off the ship and actually interacting with the various words they were cycling through - the planets were all unique enough that they could sort their memories by the background of the place that they'd happened on. But the things that happened on the ship were chronologically nebulous. The volleyball game that had nearly resulted in Barry's death, was that their fifth year? Sixth? Seventh? The year they started poker nights - sometime in the first decade, maybe? Lucretia wrote down everything, so they could always look something up if they had to, but she wrote down everything, making it difficult to actually find something if you didn't know exactly when it happened.

It wasn't just the years that were getting hard to separate - time sometimes passed funny within cycles, too. They'd been celebrating birthdays since the beginning, that first, crazy year excepted, but the celebrations turned into bigger events as they started using them as markers to gauge the passage of time during each cycle. A fluke of statistics put three of their birthdays within a month of each other, however, leaving a months-long stretch in the middle of the year that didn't have anything of note to break it up. Lup finally had the idea to create their own holidays to help mark time.

As it was Lup's idea, she got first choice on which holiday to observe. She thought about it for a couple of days before giving them a cultural lesson about Elvish deities and declaring that she wanted to observe a day for Erevan Ilesere, the Elvish god of rogues and, more importantly, mischief. As Lup explained how he was worshiped on their home world, it became apparent that they would have to adapt the old traditions to suit their life aboard the Starblaster, which was fine. Only Taako, Lup, and Merle had even heard of him before, and Lup's intention wasn't to honor Erevan himself as much as it was to dedicate a day to mischief, so they were free to alter whatever they wanted to. Their observance of the day changed over the years; the human contingent and Davenport both added in traditions from similar holidays they'd observed on their home world until it became something uniquely their own.

It was Erevan's Day once again, and Magnus had possibly the best idea he'd ever come up with.

Magnus never pre-planned his tricks, preferring to come up with something on the spot. It usually worked out for him, and when it didn't he fell back to old pranks he'd played on his friends as a kid. This year he didn't even have to try to think about a prank, this one just fell fully-formed into his mind as he woke up.

He had to find Lucretia.

Magnus didn't bother throwing real clothes on, heading to his door in his pyjamas. He cracked the door slightly, peering out to make sure nobody and nothing was waiting for him outside. He couldn't see anything, which was only a slight reassurance as multiple of his teammates could turn themselves invisible if they wanted to. But staying sequestered and hiding from pranks was considered bad form, so he boldly strode to Lucretia's room and knocked on her door.

Lucretia didn't answer so he knocked again, this time calling out, "Lucretia? It's me. I need your help for something," but still no answer. Lucretia nearly always woke before him so he shrugged and continued down the hallway to the common areas.

He found Davenport in their den, reading a book with a suspiciously placid expression on his face. "Have you seen Lucretia?" he asked, edging around the doorway until he could put his back to a wall, just in case. Davenport directed him up to the ship's deck, so Magnus proceeded through the room, pivoting so he could keep an eye on Davenport the entire time. Davenport's face slowly broke into a smile as he watched Magnus' journey through the room, and Magnus narrowed his eyes at him - Davenport was always the one to watch out for on Erevan's Day. Their normally-professional captain was very good at pranks and also very good at looking innocent. Throughout the years there'd been a couple of pranks that nobody could figure out how they'd been pulled off or by whom, but the general consensus was that Davenport had been the instigator.

Lucretia was indeed on the deck, situated by the edge of the ship and painting something on an easel. This cycle the Light had landed on a very densely-populated planet and there wasn't a big enough clearing anywhere to set the ship down, so they were in perpetual orbit. Lucretia'd been spending a lot of her spare time painting their view of the world below. Magnus headed over to her and tripped on thin air about six feet away, sprawling to the ground at her feet. Lucretia didn't even look up from her painting.

Magnus turned around suspiciously and felt around the air until his hand ran into what felt like an invisible trip wire strung low near the deck. He followed it back and forth to where it intersected with either side of the ship, effectively walling Lucretia off from the main part of the deck. "Nice work," he told her. "How'd you do it?"

"A magician never tells," she replied, and looked up from her work to grin at him.

"I need a favor," he told her. "I have the best idea ever, and I need your help."

"What is it?" she asked.

"Remember that time you turned me into a dog? I need you to do it again."

Lucretia put her brush down, intrigued, and Magnus explained his plan to make Davenport think he'd managed to sneak a dog on the ship again. Lucretia was all in, only a bit hesitant on the practicalities.

"It was an accident last time," she reminded him.

Magnus shrugged. "Well I can't imagine it could go wrong if you're actually trying, then," he countered. "And if it does, we've got multiple people who can patch me up no problem."

"Okay. Just come back and, I don't know, bark meaningfully when you want to be turned back." Last time she'd freaked out and asked Merle for help changing him back, but she'd been attentive throughout the process and Magnus was confident she could reverse the spell herself this time.

Lucretia pulled out the wand that she sometimes used to focus a spell and aimed it at him. A bolt of light hit him square in the chest and he went down, coming up again on all fours. He took a few shaky steps, getting used to walking around on paws, then rose up, put his front paws on Lucretia's shoulders, and gave her a big lick on the face. Lucretia shrieked and gently pushed him off, rubbing her face clean on the sleeve of her jacket.

"Ew, gross. Go on, get out of here." Magnus turned and trotted off to head below deck, but he'd forgotten about the trip line and fell on his face again. In this form he had more fur and padding than he did as a human, so it didn't hurt as much, but it took him a good forty-five seconds to negotiate his hind legs over the line and Lucretia was laughing at him the entire time. Finally past the wire, he turned and gave Lucretia what he hoped was a baleful expression. Lucretia shook her head. "I've got your saliva on my face still, you're getting no sympathy from me."

Magnus huffed and turned around. His steps across the deck were deliberately heavy - depending on whether anyone else was in the area, Davenport might be able to hear the footfall from the den and Magnus wanted him to start wondering what was going on. He took the other set of stairs, heading back to his room in a roundabout way that he hoped would keep him from running into anyone else.

The only snag in the plan was that Barry's door was open. Magnus peeked around the corner of the door to see whether he could sneak past or whether he'd have to take a different route, but unfortunately Barry was in his room and was looking right back at him. They stared at each other for a moment. "What the hell," Barry said.

Magnus made a quick decision and moved into Barry's room, nudging the door behind him so it was only open a crack. He walked up to Barry and sat down at his feet. Barry turned around in his desk chair and leaned forward, his forearms on his knees, eyes level with Magnus', and stared him down.

"You look familiar," he said at last. Magnus let out a quiet bark of agreement.

When Lucretia had turned him into a dog the first time and rushed to find Merle, they'd located him in the lab, talking with Barry about the Light. He was the only one who hadn't been directly involved with the incident to actually see Magnus in dog form; everyone else had just heard about it later.

"Are you a dog on purpose this time, or do I need to go find Merle again?" he asked. Magnus nodded and then shook his head, so Barry rephrased. "On purpose?" Magnus nodded. "Erevan's Day?" Another nod.

Barry sat back up. "Do you need help with anything?" Magnus thought about it. He didn't want Davenport to find him right away. He nudged Barry's foot aside and curled up under his desk. Barry leaned down to get a look at him. "You need a hiding spot?" Magnus _ruff_ ed.

"Sure thing," Barry told him. "I haven't left my room all day, so I've probably only got an hour or so before one of the twins drags me out of here, but you can stay here if you want."

Magnus contorted himself so he could get out from under the desk and nosed Barry's door back open. He took a step outside and barked twice, as loud as he could, before rushing back to his hiding spot.

"Dangerous," Barry mumbled at him, but got back to work marking up some notes. Magnus focused on quieting his breathing - he was panting heavily from the excitement and he didn't want the noise to give him away.

It was only a minute or so before Davenport showed up at Barry's door.

"I don't suppose you've seen a dog," he asked Barry. Magnus froze completely. As long as Davenport didn't actually come in to search the room, his view of Magnus was blocked by a bookshelf. But if he did come in, Davenport was short enough that he'd probably have a good line of sight to Magnus beneath the desk.

Barry hummed a negative. "Heard one run that way," he said, pointing down the hall in the opposite direction Davenport had come from. "I think. It was going pretty fast, was gone by the time I got up to check."

"And you don't know anything about how a dog got on the ship."

"I wasn't involved," Barry said. Davenport had a sixth sense for nonsense, but Magnus hoped that the technical truth that Barry told would save them.

"Well. Let me know if you see it. Or Magnus. I'm pretty sure I can guess who's behind this one."

"Sure thing, Cap. And hey, have you seen Lup today? I'm uh... nervous about running into her."

Barry had made the mistake of pulling a very good prank on her last cycle, and she'd loudly been talking about getting revenge ever since.

"She's up and around, just like normal," Davenport reported. "She hasn't pulled any pranks yet, as far as I'm aware."

Barry groaned. "She's probably saving it up for me."

"Good luck with that," Davenport said, then headed down the hallway. A moment later, Barry snaked his hand down beneath the desk and held it there, palm up. Magnus dropped his paw on top, as close to a high-five as he could get.

They had about twenty minutes of peace before there was another knock at the door.

"What happened to _you_?" Barry asked. "You're soaked!"

"Davenport is a cruel and heartless leader," Taako's voice responded. "Lup says if you don't come out now you'll just make it worse for yourself. And between you and me, I've seen plan B and she's not joking."

Barry sighed. "Yeah. Just let me finish this up, okay? Just a couple of minutes."

Before Barry stood up, he patted Magnus on the head and scratched him behind the ears. Magnus pushed his head into Barry's hand for more scratches - no wonder dogs liked this so much - and whined when Barry stopped. "Wish me luck," he said bravely, then headed out to meet his fate. He left the door cracked so Magnus could get back out.

Magnus rolled around on the floor and considered his options. Davenport was already on notice. Magnus was too big to effectively hide once Davenport was actually on his trail - he could probably only taunt him one more time before the game they were playing turned from hide and seek to chase the dog. Maybe if he'd had Lucretia change him into one of those small, yappy dogs... but it was too late, and that wasn't the kind of dog he was, anyway.

He turned to where Barry's clock sat on his nightstand - almost lunch time. Davenport normally ate with the crew when he had the chance. His best option was probably to surprise him at lunch. Magnus passed the time sniffing around Barry's room and chasing his tail - that was kind of fun, too - before he decided he'd waited long enough and made his way back to the common area.

On the way, he passed Merle's room, where he heard the dwarf laughing to himself. Magnus gave his door a wide berth. Merle's pranks were always... weird. He walked more softly the closer he got to the kitchen slash dining room. This time when he peaked around the corner, he was in luck. Davenport was sitting facing away from him. Taako and Lucretia were also both at the table. They both saw him but neither of their faces betrayed a thing. Magnus sneaked forward and Lucretia started asking Davenport a question - to distract him? Magnus got as close as he dared then barked several times as loudly as possible. He immediately turned around and ran, so he didn't see Davenport's response but he did hear a crash and a wordless shout from Davenport. Magnus, delighted, kept the barking up as he continued toward the staircase.

Magnus spared a glance behind himself as he reached the foot of the stairs. Davenport was on his trail, a couple seconds behind him. He headed up to the deck but had some difficulties navigating the stairs in dog form. They delayed him just enough that Davenport was directly behind him as he reached the deck. Magnus could hear him laughing as he ran.

Magnus was struck with inspiration for the second time that day and headed straight for where Lucretia had been set up earlier, hoping that she hadn't taken the trip wire down when she left and that Davenport didn't know about it. He took a flying leap when he came up to where he remembered the wire being and turned around. He'd reached the edge of the ship and either his plan worked or it didn't, but if it didn't then he had nowhere to go. On a lark mid-leap he shot up a quick thought to Erevan himself - he didn't really think it could help, but it probably wouldn't hurt.

Whether by luck or divine intervention, Davenport did trip as he approached Magnus. Magnus took off running back over the wire, not bothering to check if Davenport was okay. They all knew how to take an unexpected fall by now and he knew Davenport would be back on his feet in very short order. He took the stairs back down, two levels this time, and ran the length of the ship and back up the other set of stairs, putting him back at the landing near his quarters. He stopped for a moment to pant and try to listen for Davenport. He'd managed to outrun Davenport to the point that he'd lost sight of Magnus, but that was a street that went both ways and Magnus didn't know which direction he'd be coming from.

He heard steps coming from below and turned to run up the stairs, only for Davenport to take a flying leap at him from above and tackle him to the ground. "Gotcha!" he exclaimed triumphantly. Magnus didn't bother to try to wiggle out from under him. He was content with how the prank had gone. He and Davenport both lay there panting for a moment.

"No dogs on the Starblaster," Davenport told him eventually. He got off Magnus and sat against the wall. "But that was a pretty good trick you pulled back there with the trip wire. Smart. And it's been a while since I've seen my security officer. I don't think you're really a dog, are you, Magnus?"

Magnus barked and shuffled forward to Davenport, putting his head in his lap. Davenport huffed and scratched him behind the ears. Magnus wagged his tail, content.

"Yeah, you are kind of a puppy, aren't you?" Davenport asked. Magnus, delighted by this, barked, got up just long enough to turn around in a circle a couple of times, then sat back down next to Davenport for more pats.

Eventually they got up to relocate to the den. Davenport took up a spot on the couch and Magnus waited at his feet. Davenport patted his lap and said, "Come on, get up here."

Magnus had long suspected that Davenport's dislike of dogs was feigned, and the couple hours that they spent on the couch doing nothing, Davenport petting him off and on, was another piece of evidence to add on to his theory. Magnus actually didn't mind being a dog at all and he suspected that being in dog form and being this close to Davenport would be strategically advantageous in avoiding any further pranks, so he was more than content to stay there and be petted.

Lup wandered through the den, giving Davenport a thumbs up. Barry trudged in a few minutes later. Magnus barked at him twice, trying to copy the cadence of the "you good?" that he often gave his crew mates. Barry smiled. "Ehhhhh," he said. "I deserved it." He waved at the both of them as he passed through.

Lucretia came by mid-afternoon and offered to change Magnus back. Magnus buried his head into the couch cushions. "Later, I think," Davenport told her. He gently nudged Magnus' face back out of the couch so he could breathe, then scratched behind his ears some more. Magnus wagged his tail, happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments would be appreciated! I went over this a couple of times but didn't have anybody beta or do any deep editing myself, so if you find any mistakes please shoot me a message.


End file.
